JRPG series Persona celebrates 25th birthday with brand-new content and teaser website
Persona 25th anniversary. (Atlus)
Atlus is teasing new Persona content to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the JRPG series.
On the Persona 25th anniversary website are question marks for seven different projects, though whether these are games or other types of content is unknown.
The celebrations will begin in September 2021 with the first of these projects, until autumn 2022.
“In 2021, the Persona series exceeded the cumulative worldwide sales of 15 million units. We would like to express our sincere gratitude and gratitude to all those who have watched over and supported us for a long time,” reads a statement on the website.
“And in September, the Persona series will finally celebrate its 25th anniversary. With gratitude to all of you, we are preparing a lot of fun as PERSONA 25th Anniversary YEAR for about one year from September 2021 this year to autumn 2022 next year.”
A range of merch has also been launched, including keychains, artwork and apparel, although these appear to be available in Japan only.
Atlus, the developer behind the series, has confirmed that Persona 6 is on the way, but the company wants to ensure they can improve on Persona 5 in a meaningful way – something of a daunting task that likely won’t be released in the next year as part of these celebrations.
https://twitter.com/andes_hill/status/1414744923299999747?s=20
Persona 5, the most recent game in the main series, received its Royal re-release in 2020 and is one of the most highly rated games ever.
For many gamers this was their entry point to the series, though it began in 1996 with Revelations: Persona on the PS1, itself a spin-off of the Shin Megami Tensei series.
Persona 5 received a sequel in Persona 5 Strikers earlier this year, check out our review here.
Last year also saw the release of Persona 4 Golden on PC, a highly regarded entry in the series that received high sales, prompting publisher SEGA to announce they would be releasing more ports to PC in future.
The series does have a troubling history with LGBT+ representation however.
Most notably, Persona 4’s Kanji Tatsumi confronts his sexuality in the game though its depiction is rife with cliche and never fully resolved.
And while Persona 5 is loved for its romances, none of the options are queer – despite follow up Strikers having plenty of homoerotic tension.
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